"The other guy is Ash. Uh … " He racked his brain for the liaison's full name. "Bartholomew Asher, but he goes by Ash."
"That's good. He looks more like an Ash than a Bart." She tilted her head to glance through the doorway and then looked at Dante again. "Is he comin' back?" Interest brightened her eyes.
His werewolf sister had the hots for another werewolf. Dante knew it was going to take a while for him to wrap his head around this. He was just glad Lily seemed to be adjusting so quickly. "Ash is a liaison to the council. He's a-"
"Werewolf. Yeah, I could tell. There's a wild, kinda foresty smell to him."
"Foresty?"
"It's a word," she muttered.
"Not much of one." He grinned at her juvenile response of sticking her tongue out at him. "Mom always said that if you kept doing that your face would get stuck that way."
She poked her tongue out at him again.
He sobered and sat on the edge of the bed. "Ash is going to talk to you about what happened. You up for that?"
"A lot of it's hazy," she said. "I'm okay to answer his questions."
"He's also gonna talk to you about what things're gonna be like for you going forward." He met her eyes. "Are you up for that?"
She sat up. Dante grabbed the pillows and put them behind her back. "Thanks," she said. As he sat down, she grabbed his hand. "This is kinda scary, you know? Yet … exciting at the same time." Sudden tears swam in her eyes. "Dante, I won't ever get sick again. Ever."
He squeezed her fingers. "I know, honey. And for that I'm glad."
"But?" When he didn't say anything, she added, "There sounded like there was a ‘but' with that."
"She kept the truth from me."
Lily frowned at him, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "She did not," his sister said. "She didn't share her suspicions with you. She's like you in a lot of respects, Dante. She takes facts and feelings and mulls them over before she makes a deduction. First conclusions are discarded unless there's hard evidence to support them." She stared at him. "Tell me you wouldn't have done the same."
That thought stayed with him as he drove home ten minutes later. He'd left his sister with Ash, confident the werewolf liaison would be able to help her more than he could at the momend a het. As he turned onto his street, he went back over the events of the last couple of weeks and reflected on how close he and Tori had become. The love they'd shared. He knew she'd missed having family around, knew she'd been a little envious of the relationship he and Lily had. So he understood her desire to be reunited with her brother and her willingness to believe the best of him.
Dante couldn't imagine being estranged from Lily for a week, let alone over a hundred years.
He pulled into his driveway and stopped the truck in front of the house. He needed to take care of the horses and get a shower and some food. He also had to sort through the feelings rolling around inside him. There was hurt that Tori hadn't trusted him. Anger at her deception.
Love and understanding. And, admittedly, disappointment that he was now the odd man out.
He blew out a breath and turned off the engine. Maybe he could make more sense out of this once he talked to Tori. He climbed out of the truck and went straight to the stables. Both horses nickered a greeting, and Sugarplum set up a loud braying. "I know, boys. You're all hungry. Sorry I'm late with the feed."
He got the horses fed and went into the house. Shucking his clothing, he took a shower. It was only when he started getting dressed that he noticed the top drawer of his dresser was slightly open. Towel fastened around his waist, he walked over and pulled the drawer the rest of the way open.
His stomach dropped. The door to his gun safe was askew. He lifted it, knowing what he'd find. Or, rather, not find. Sure enough, the rift device was gone.
He closed his eyes. Son of a bitch. Had Lily been attacked because she was his sister, or because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Just how much culpability did he share with Tori?
He blew out a breath and grabbed his phone from atop the dresser. He had to let Tobias know the device was gone.
Tori cradled a cup of coffee at the dining room table. Jeff and Con were both in the living room where they could see her yet still allow a little privacy. She stared down into her mug. Her thoughts tumbled over each other but centered on the two men in her life: her brother and her lover.
She knew Rand would be put to death. He had made other prets without sanction by the council. That carried a heavy penalty. The penalty. It was painful, but she finally admitted to herself that the man known as Randall Langston was nothing like the sweet brother she remembered from before the rift. There was nothing more she could do for him.
Then there was Dante. He might be able to eventually forgive her for not telling him about her suspicions concerning her brother, but once she told him that Natchook was also related to her, that she'd known he was around and hadn't said anything, well … that might be harder for him to overlook.
She sighed. It was remarkable how quickly someone's life-her life-could go from the top of the world to the lowest abyss of hell. Once again she was all alone in the world.
The doorbell rang. She stood out of habit, and with a warning glance at her Con said, "I've got it."
As he opened the door, a fresh, woodsy scent wafted her way. Dante. He was here. Her heart leaped out of her chest. She sat back down. She wasn't ready to face him. Not yet and definitely not here, with witnesses. She stood up again. She should tell him to go. She sat. No, that wouldn't be right. Whatever he had to say to her, she needed to let him say it. It was the least she could do.
"You have a visitor," Con said as he walked past her. She heard him say to Jeff, "Let's give them a minute," and watched her two guards head to the back of the houackly forgivse.
"But … " Jeff started to protest.
"She's not going anywhere," Con growled. "Move."
Tori turned her head to look at Dante. She mustered a smile that quickly faded in light of his grim countenance. "How's Lily?" she asked quietly.
"She's fine, all things considered." His lips thinned. "Damn it, Tori. Why didn't you say anything before last night?"
She closed her eyes. "I should have, I know." Opening them, she stared at him. "I didn't want to admit my own brother could be behind the attacks. I never dreamed he'd go after you and Lily. Never!"
"Did he say why he did it?"
"He followed me the night I had dinner at your place."
"The night we made love." His voice was husky.
She couldn't find her voice. She gave a short nod and cleared her throat. "That's why the horses were spooked more than they should have been. Remember, I told you they acted like they were surrounded by predators."
"To them, they were," he said. His dark gaze remained on her.
"Rand stayed all night. That morning, when you put the, uh, thing in your gun safe, he saw you do it." She drew in a deep breath. "Plus, he wanted you to suffer for shooting him. If I'd thought he would go after Lily to get to it, I would never have agreed to let you keep it there. I would have turned him in if I'd thought that. You have to believe me."
He studied her a moment, then gave a brief nod. "Okay. I do believe that. And I share some culpability in this, because I suggested we store it at my house." He rubbed a hand across his mouth and chin. "To be honest, if I'd been in your shoes I probably would have done the same thing, because I'd do just about anything for Lily." He sighed. Pulling out a chair, he sat down. "My sister's a werewolf now, Tori."
"I know." She leaned forward a little. "It's not always such a bad thing. She won't get sick, ever again." While she would never have suggested that Lily ensure her cancer didn't come back by turning into a werewolf, the fact that the cancer no longer had a feeding ground had to count for something.
He folded his arms and rested against the back of the chair. He looked so closed off. "Ash told me what's gonna happen to your brother," he said. "I'm sorry. Not sorry that he's gonna be punished for what he's done, to be honest. But that you're gonna lose him."
"Thanks." She looked down at her hands. "There's something else I need to tell you." She went into her brief meeting with Stefan and the relationship between them.
Dante went stiff. "Son of a … Have you told me the truth in anything?"
"I guess not." She looked at him. "And I'm sorry for that. But I'm telling you the truth now when I say that I love you."
His expression didn't change. She had no idea what he was thinking.
"If I'd been braver," she whispered, "I would have told you the truth … all of it." This was the hardest thing she'd ever done, but she didn't break eye contact with him. He needed to see the honesty in her gaze.
"Does Tobias know?" His eyes were as hard as the line of his mouth. "About Natchook being in town?"
"He does now." She blinked back tears. Dante hadn't responded to her declaration of love. Her fear had come true.
She'd lost him.
At that realization, Tori dropped her gaze and stared down at her hands, fingers white with pressure as she clasped them to hide the trembling. "I was … na?ve. Mistaken. Stupid. Whatever you want to call it. I just wanted my family back, and I thought Stefan deserved the secondvedde chance every pret gets by coming through the rift."